Bittersweet Romance
by Rurouni Idoru
Summary: Sensui spoileriffic. Tales from someone frequently overlooked, and her strange, fragile world. Contains kinda shounen-ai. But it's only there a little.
1. Itsuki and Naru

A Bittersweet Romance-Itsuki and Naru

by the Rurouni Idoru

Rurouni's note: A quick warning. This fic is seriously Sensui spoiler-heavy. I mean, like, it won't even make sense unless you've either seen the whole Sensui story or read spoilers about his entire life. Contains kinda-sort Shounen-ai. (I mean, it's still a male body. If it makes you feel better, just imagine Naru's wish was granted.) And shut up. I'm a hopeless Itsuki/Sensui fan. They're cute together. And shut up. Itsuki says he thought she loved him.

P.S.: If you leave reviews, I'll love you forever. Or, you know, for a while.

I make no claims to own YYH, Itsuki, or any part of Sensui. But I like to think I did give Naru a personality she wouldn't have had otherwise. So I guess this interepretation of Naru is mine. But you can use that, I don't care. It'd make me happy, actually.

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She came to him again. Itsuki knew it was her beacuse none of the others came to him with tears in their eyes. She rushed to the water, running until she could run no longer. She broke into a swim and quickly reached the center. Sensui Naru climbed into the boat and wrapped her arms around Itsuki.

"What is it this time, Naru-chan?" She drew back from him and looked him straight in they eyes. Her deep voice carried across the water, so that, had the portal been closer to completion, demons could have heard.

"I'm gonna die." Itsuki smiled wryly.

"It's an inevitability for all of us." She rolled her eyes and then looked away from him.

"You know what I mean. I won't last much longer." She flicked a tear out of her eye. Itsuki had to admit, it was strange, seeing the tall, lean, very masculine body of Sensui Shinobu crying and speaking as a girl. Of course, it wasn't like Itsuki minded.

"The Doctor did say--"

"Not that." Naru looked up again. "The Urameshi boy. He'll kill Shinobu and the rest of us in the process." Itsuki narrowed his eyes in concern. Did she have such little faith?

"You beleive Koenma's new lapdog can destroy Shinobu?" Naru looked away again, pursing her lips while her tears flowed. It was obvious that she was not only sad, but angry. Anger was an emotion she didn't usually exhibit. "Handpicked Reikai filth?"

"Shinobu was handpicked by Koenma." Itsuki's eyes widened. She was right. Her breathing began to sound shuddering. Her shoulders shook as a whole new flood of tears began. "So he'll die, and so will we. I'm going to die alone." Comforting her was one of his favorite parts of her late-night visits. She actually craved affection and tenderness from Itsuki.

"You won't be alone. There'll be the other six...."

"They don't count. I want someone to mourn me. I want someone to care. But no one will. You're the only one I can ever talk to." Itsuki smiled kindly.

"I'll miss you when you're gone. I love talking to you." She turned away from him and looked at the bottom of the boat.

"You'll miss Shinobu more than me." He tightened his grip around her shoulders, not easy since she was in a man's body.

"You know I care about you and Shinobu more than anyone. When you all do die, I'll lose two very dear friends." He drew his head onto her shoulder. "The other five will barely even register in my mind." She gave him that forlorn look again.

"Really?" Itsuki nodded, still smiling. She sniffled and more tears rolled down her cheeks. She embraced him frantically. He gently patted her back as she sobbed hysterically.

"Don't worry. I'll be here. I'll always be here." She pulled away from him, wiped her eyes, and tried to smile.

"Yeah, thanks." She paused and looked away again. "I want my own body. I wish I could have my own body. A _girl's_ body. Then maybe I could be happy." Itsuki considered this. Psychological theories he had heard drifted around his mind. Was she the part of Sesnui that regretted everything the Reikai work ever led to? She had constantantly shown indifference to the entire plan about the tunnel. Did she want nothing to do with any of them? Shinobu, Kazuya, Minoru, the rest, did she want to abandon them? "If I could have my own body, I could, um...I could...never mind." She was avoiding his eyes again. He looked at her, concerned once more. "I want someone to love me. But it won't happen. Not like this." Her head was hanging.

"Not like what?"

"This. When a man thinks of a beautiful girl, Sensui Shinobu's body is most likely not what comes to mind."

"That's not true. this is the only way I've ever seen you, and you're the one I think of when I think of a beautiful girl. She moved in toward his face, searching for signs that he may have been lying. To her relief, she could find none. Itsuki repeated her curious gesture, sticking her head closer to hers.

"What's wrong, Naru-chan?" Her eyes darted away from his shyly.

"I'm just feeling...I can't put my finger on the word." He leaned forward slightly and spoke quietly.

"That happens to me sometimes." She began to lose control over her emotions and her movement. She found herself sliding her head slowly closer to Itsuki's.

"Never happens...to Minoru." Itsuki found himself in the same position as Naru.

"But I like you better than Minoru." The two drew even closer.

"Itsuki...." He put his arm around her, placing one hand on the back of her head. Naru's eyes wavered for a moment, and then closed.

"Ssh." Itsukui's heart was racing, but he hid it well. Even if Shinobu would never even consider taking him as a lover, there was always Naru....

"But...." Naru cut her own sentence off this time. Her breathing was heavy. She was on the verge of crying yet again. But she continued moving forward. She wrapped her arms around Itsuki. She knew she should have been happy. Someone cared. Better still, Itsuki cared. Her lips parted slightly, and she drew in a deep breath. After what seemed like an eternity, their lips touched. And the two continued the kiss for a long moment. Naru slid her head away from Itsuki's and onto his shoulder. From the sniffling he heard, Itsuki judged that she was crying again. He just embraced her warmly again.

The pair sat in what could be called the afterglow of the kiss for some time. Naru finally stopped crying.

I'm glad I won't die alone. I'll have you." Itsuki smiled sadly and nodded. "Itsuki...I have to tell you something while I still have time. I...I..." Her eyes closed peacefully. "I..." Silence. Itsuki lowered his eyes. Naru was sleeping. Which could only mean....

Sensui's eyes fluttered open. "Itsuki-san?" Itsuki could tell by the tone of Sensui's voice. He was speaking to Shinobu. "Did Naru visit you again?" Itsuki nodded.

"Mm-hmm."

"It appears she needed some rest. So do I, actually. We have a big week ahead of us. Goodnight, Itsuki-san."

"Goodnight, Sensui-san." Shinobu then left Itsuki alone in the boat to contemplate the night's events.

Itsuki smiled.


	2. Scribbled on a Sheet of Paper

Bittersweet Romance-Scribbled on a Sheet of Paper

by the Rurouni Idoru

Rurouni's Note: Still just as spoiler-tastic as before. Since I'm in quite the Naru mood lately, I wrote Naru's poem on a sheet of notebook paper in class. (Relax, I was paying attention to the lesson, just not as much as usual.) It was written before the first chapter of the fic, which is why it might not fit totally. But then, I'm my own worst critic. It's supposed to take place during the battle between Sensui and Yusuke. (Minoru, in particular. And maybe a little of Kazuya. I don't know.) It was mostly made up as I went along. I just really wanted to continue the fic.

In other news, I'm thinking of maybe writing little one-shots about Sensui's...uh...psychic...employee...people. I need feedback on this matter, because it might not be good. (Well, I could prolly pull off Mitarai, but people like Amanuma or Hagiri might be hard.) And remember, free cookies to reviewers! Is a dirty liar

Disclaimer: Now now, If I had owned Yu Yu Hakusho or had any part in its creation, Naru would have been this focused on in the first place. So it's safe to say that I can claim no ownership to it. But please, use my interpretation of Naru as you like.

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Naru quite liked it in the Uraotoko. Back when the tunnel was still in the planning stages, back before Itsuki was confined to the boat, back before they lived inside a cave, Naru would sit around in the Uraotoko with him. Sometimes, she would sleep there. Other times, she would float around, examining the odd things that the creature had swallowed. There were such strange things, parts of buildings, some electrical poles.... Naru wondered if anyone had ever noticed them missing. But she found one thing she liked a lot. A young girl's school notebook. There were silly doodles amongst the definitions, and the words "Takako loves Senichi" with hearts drawn around them scattered in the margins of homework. A mechanical pencil was clipped to the spiral wire that bound the book together. Naru had taken to writing in it. On those nights when she would come crying to Itsuki, she would often show him what she had written down lately. However, he noticed that there were quite a few pages she would refuse to show him. He had strongly suspected for a long time that Naru had a crush on him. Perhaps those pages were her writings on him? If things such as being a female personality trapped in the body of Sensui Shinobu produced the beautiful poetry she had shown him, imagine what the motivation of love could spur on? But Itsuki, ever the gentleman as far as Naru was concerned, did not pry. Although the notebook stayed in his territory most of the time, he never looked at anything besides the cover and what Naru showed him herself.

Itsuki found himself in the Uraotoko for the first time in about a month. He vaguely looked around as Kuwabara's rapid, frantic movements disturbed much of the air around. A slight disturbance in the Uraotoko could move things that were yards away. And in the middle of Yusuke and Sensui's rapid-fire battle, his movements caused something to come peacefully drifting along past Itsuki. A piece of paper, with something written on it in pencil. It was apparent that it had fallen out of the notebook. He thought at first that it was one of the old assignments that the notebook's original owner had written, with the doodles in the margins. But he quickly recognized the handwriting. Initially hard to read, but understandable up close, Naru had written this. As inconspicuously as possible, he caught the paper and began to read it.

_I know that you are in love with him_

_Does that not mean you love me too?_

_Or am I like an in-law?_

_Someone you must deal with_

_To be with him?_

_I would see why..._

_I whine and cry,_

_A contemptable girl._

_But had I my own body,_

_I would choose to stay with you_

_Forever and ever_

_The outside world forgotten._

_Soon I shall be gone from here_

_Never to see you again._

_But you'll have your Shinobu,_

_So will you really care?_

_If I could have my way,_

_We'd marry._

_We'd live together for an eternity,_

_And when death did take me,_

_You'd be there,_

_Telling me you loved me,_

_And you'd try to see me soon._

He stared at it blankly. Was that really how she felt? Obviously, his talk with her the other night had revealed that she had traces of these feelings, but Itsuki hadn't realized how strong they were. Did Naru think he didn't like her? Did she really care so deeply for him? He wished now that he could talk to her about what she had written. It was only after he finished the poem that he directed his attention to what the doodles consisted of. There were tiny drawings of female bodies here and there, but what occured the most frequently was what upset him.

Encased in little hearts were the words, "Naru loves Itsuki."


	3. Jurisdiction

Bittersweet Romance-Jurisdiction

by the Rurouni Idoru

Rurouni's note: Just as spoilery as the last, but nowhere near as good. Baika's my own personal original ferrygirl. I figured there had to more than the four they show if they lead every human who dies to Reikai. Wanring: Contains my silly interpretations on Reikai processes. And I'm sure the ending is confusing. Go with it.

Disclaimer: Okay, Baika's mine, and this interpretation of Naru is free to use. But I own nothing related to YYH except some merchandise. ...hugs DVD collection to chest

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Itsuki had lost track of time since he took Sensui with him. Had it been an hour, a day, a week, even? What was happening in Ningenkai? Did the Reikai cronies ever seal the rupture between Makai and Ningenkai? Or was there mass carnage and panic on the once organized streets of Japan? Were the humans still pondering what all the strange happenings were about in the past week, or were they praying for their lives? Either way, Itsuki didn't care. Sensui was with him for good. All he could have asked for was for Sensui's heart to still beat. Of course, he would never get this, and so settled for hanging on to his remains instead. It wasn't exactly a normal burial of any kind, but Sensui would have appreciated it. And Itsuki was sure that nothing could possibly ruin it for him.

She sped nervously through the streets of Mushiyori, close to the ground so she would make it there faster. It was situations like these that made her glad that the living could not see, hear, or touch her. Because she was in a hurry, and no human was going to stand in her way. Her short, mousy brown hair whipped around uncontrollably in the wind. She lost count of the number of times her narrow oval glasses fell off of her nose.

"I hate it when they request things like this and he accepts it! It would have been so much easier just to take all seven immediately instead of filling out those forms...." She came to a sudden halt and accidentally somersaulted through the air off of her oar. She shrieked, and landed on her posterior outside the entrance to the cave. She caught her breath while materializing a tiny laptop computer in midair. Her fingers flew across the keys until she reached a conclusion. She looked from the screen to the cave and back again. She closed the laptop and it disappeared in a small flash of light. This was definitely the place.

It took her another twenty minutes to get to where she was intended. When she reached the heart of the cave, the path for the rest of the journey was obvious. She slipped into the other dimension with ease. How did she manage that? She asked herself this question, and then came to the realization that one of the many forms she had to fill out must have had something to do with it. Her bright red kimono with its sunshine orange obi stood out like a sore thumb in the dark, cool bowels of the Uraotoko. Itsuki glared up at her. Her full-length kimono was a clue. The fact the she was sitting on an oar, however, gave it away. There was a ferrygirl staring at him and Sensui.

"And what are you doing here?" He cocked his head in indignance.

"With all due respect, sir, my job." She began to slowly hone in on Sensui, but Itsuki would not have that.

"I told your pacifier-sucking boss to leave him with me." She closed her large blue eyes and straightened her glasses.

"Koenma-sama explained to me that I was to leave Shinobu alone."

"Then leave us alone, ferry-wench." The ferrygirl threw her shoulders so far back that her back arched.

"First of all, my name is Baika, and I am a ferrywoman of the dead. NOT a 'ferry-wench.' Secondly, you did not allow me to finish." Itsuki tightened his grip on Sensui's body.

"Then by all means, continue." Baika beagn smoothing her hair down, looking as professional as possible.

"Koenma-sama and the rest of Reikai respect the final wishes of Sensui Shinobu, and we understand that you would not let us take his soul. However, the will of the other six cannot be determined." Itsuki furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Other six?" Then it dawned on him. "Oh. The other six." He looked away for a moment, considering what to say next. He finally came up with his argument. "But technically, they are a part of him, so they should all stay here with me." Baika shook her head.

"In most cases, when a human dies, a ferrywoman is sent to collect their ghost and soul, and take that person to Reikai for judgement. However, this is a significantly odd case." Her spectacles slid down to the tip of her nose. She unconsciously pushed them back up to the bridge of her nose with two fingers, and continued speaking. "For one, you, Itsuki the yaminade, have established it that Sensui Shinobu is to stay here with you. And Koenma-sama is willing to allow this. But, as I have mentioned, this particular case is very unusual. Due to severe psychological damage, Sensui Shinobu's soul was spilt into seven pieces, and seven different people. You of all people should understand this." Itsuki nodded. "As such, had you not intervened with Reikai business, then there would in fact be seven souls to collect and pass judgement on. You did, however, and refused to allow Koenma-sama to take Shinobu with him to Reikai. You said nothing about the other six. Because of this, they fall under our jurisdiction." Itsuki's mouth fell open slightly. The way she put it, it all fit together. But he would not allow it.

"I don't care. They are all staying here." Baika suddenly became much more forceful than she had been before.

"Excuse me, Itsuki-san, but do you have any idea what I went through to get here? I had to fill out so many forms I lost count of them all. Why do you think it took so long for me to get here? It's been several days since Sensui's death, I normally would have come to collect in an hour. If you do not allow me access to those six souls, being that they are without ghosts, they will disappear for good soon, destroying any and all chance for any possible redemption. If I do not complete this job by the end of the day, I will be fired. Honestly, I don't want to be Reikai destitute." Itsuki simply squeezed Sensui's body protectively. Something within Baika seemed to snap. She pulled a pink umbrella from one of her long sleeves. "You really only have two options." Itsuki began to feel some instinct telling him something important. "Either you allow me to take these souls, or I take this, and shove it up--"

"Fine. Take them."

"...And open--...Excuse me, did you just say what I think you did?"

"I wouldn't want the rest of them to disappear." Baika put the umbrella back in her sleeve and shook Itsuki's hand, smiling.

"Thank you very much, Itsuki-san. You've been very kind." She made a sweeping gesture, obviously collecting the souls that he could not see. She paused, perhaps checking to see if they were all there, and sped away on her oar.

Redemption...? What did Baika mean by redemption? That was what Naru began to wonder.


	4. Feminity

Bittersweet Romance-Feminity

by the Rurouni Idoru

Rurouni's note: I know, I know, I took my sweet time with this one. I had severe writer's block on this for a while, but lately the fiction's been flowing outta me like..uh...something liquid.

Disclaimer: I dun own Sensui, Reikai, YYH, or any o' dat. I own Baika, Mitsune, the green-haired lady, and um...this bottle of Ramune right here. Oh, and for anyone who can catch the joke about Naru, Shinobu, and Mitsune, I give you cookies. Mmm. Cookies.

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Baika gently cradled the six tiny orbs in her arms as she hopped off of her oar. She knocked on the monumental doors and waited. One of the souls, ocean blue, began to get slightly excited. This was Reikai? This beautiful place, with its puffy clouds and gorgeous structure, this was the place that Shinobu had learned to hate? But it was so...perfect. 

"Gates of Judgement, to whom am I speaking?" A staticky voice asked from a voicebox on the door.

"Baika the ferrygirl. I've come with the six special cases." The doors swung open, and Baika stepped inside. Naru looked at her surroundings as Baika stepped lively through the halls. It was odd. She could see everything, behind her, next to her, above her and below her. Oni rushed around left and right, many of them weaing neckties. Baika, stepping quickly and nervously, bumped into a strange sight: a woman amongst the oni. Her hair was bright green and tied in a high ponytail, her eyes were garnet, and she was wearing a very soft green suit. Her glossy red lips were in a serious frown. She looked amazingly professional. Naru was in awe. Baika seemed intimidated.

"Baika?" The woman asked.

"Ah! Senpai!" She looked around frantically, as if she were running away from something. "There you are." The woman smiled tentatively.

"You took care of...?" Baika nodded.

"Senpai, here are the six special cases." Baika extended her arms to the green-clad woman. The elder swept some emerald strands of hair out of her face as she replied.

"What do you want me to do with 'em?" Baika, flustered, bowed in apology.

"I'm so sorry senpai, I thought you were working on them. After all, if anyone would..." The other one waved her hand dismissively.

"I'm only working two of them. Even so, they need ghosts. As they are, they cannot confirm whether or not they understand their judgments. Didn't you read the form?" Baika's eyes shifted nervously, like a mouse's.

"I stopped reading after my sixteenth signature."

"Oh!" cried the other. "I can understand that. What the one form stated was that Shinobu, being the lead personality, was the only one to get a ghost, and the other six need to be taken to Mitsune-san in the ghost department." Baika nodded, and stopped for some watercooler-style gossip before departing.

"Itsuki-san was quite difficult about letting me take them. We had a bit of an argument about it." A bit of an argument was an understatement, Naru thought.

"I'm not surprised." stated the green-haired woman. "He was always quite protective of Shinobu. Even selfish at times. Of course he wanted to keep every aspect of Sensui for himself." She paused to giggle. "A lot of ferrygirls who were working back then wanted to hang onto him."

"Were you one of them?" The apparent former-ferrygirl blushed a little.

"Well, enough chit-chat. Why don't you hurry up with those ghosts before you get in trouble?" Baika grinned mischeviously and left, still holding the six souls gently. If Naru had the ability to blink in confusion, she would have. The green-haired one...knew her oldest "brother"?

As it turned out, the green-haired one was not the only one who knew Shinobu. Mitsune-san in the ghost department was a young woman with short red hair, green eyes, and a perpetual smile. Naru wondered if so much smiling hurt her face.

"Ah, you must be Baika. I take it those are the six souls from one Sensui Shinobu."

"Yes they are. Did you know him too?" Mitsune took the tiny spheres gingerly from Baika as she responded.

"Ah, Sensui was charming and debonair, and disturbingly handsome. Most of the ferrygirls went crazy over him, he was so smooth." She attached slips of paper to each soul. Naru couldn't read the complicated kanji on them. "It's a pity we never met. Although it's not like I was alone in admiring the man from afar. There was only one of us ferrygirls who ever really knew him well, and she was usually too giddy to spill any details." Naru was beginning to feel larger for some reason.

"So senpai _did_ like him." Baika commented impishly.

"Liked him?" Mitsune laughed. "She adored him! When he left, she cried for three days! Then, she stopped responding to much for three months, and when Koenma-sama promoted her, she became the woman you know now." Naru saw the paper slip beginning to disintegrate. She also noticed that her range of vision was become smaller and smaller and smaller, as if blinders were growing around her. "Yep, she changed a lot that year. It was sort of upsetting, she used to bring life to the business of reaping the dead." Naru, suddenly gifted once again with the ability to look down, noticed that she had hands. The fact that she now also had an entire body to control escaped her; she was too busy staring at her hands. "Oh!" Mitsune looked away in shame as Naru became aware of her brothers' voices. "They don't have clothes!" Naru looked up to see Baika turned away and blushing the same shade as her kimono. Mitsune was scrawling kanji onto another slip of paper with a calligraphy brush and red ink. Naru heard Kazuya swearing in outrage. Mitsune held up the tiny scroll with her eyes closed. The characters flashed for a moment, and then the paper burned up, leaving Naru and the others wearing the gray sweatshirt and black slacks that had been their collective last casual outfit. Five of them were confused. Naru was shaking. She quickly noticed the tears stinging her eyes.

"Oh, here she goes again," groaned Kazuya. "You never stop with that, Naru." Naru wasn't listening to her violent relative. Her breath shuddered as she ran her trembling hands down her shaking new figure.

"I have breasts!" she cried. "I've...I've never had those before!" Minoru half-heartedly patted her on the back.

"Don't cry, Naru. You cried enough in life for all of us. Death is clearly not as bad as you've heard." She wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

"No, Minoru," she said. "I'm crying because I'm happy." Kazuya rolled his eyes.

"It is always sobbin' and tears with you, ya little bi-"

"Alright, you all have ghosts and pants now! The time crunch is over and Koenma-sama is not going to skin me when he gets back!" Baika jovially clapped her hands together. Mitsune was studying the males, and reviewing their overall common appearance.

"Meh, he was cuter as a teenager." Baika ignored the redhead and reassumed her responsible workaholic demeanor.

"Now, lady and gentlemen, you need to receive your judgments; follow me." She walked out the door, six Sensuis in tow.

Naru continued to cry for an hour in the waiting room. She could see it, she could feel it: she was finally a real girl.


	5. Good News

Bittersweet Romance-Good News

By the Rurouni Idoru

Rurouni's note: Alright, we're almost done, guys. Cross your fingers and pray that I don't screw up too badly from here. ...I probably will. But, you know. Hope I won't.

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH. If I did it wouldn't be as good as it is. I just make additions.

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Naru wiped her eyes, sure that she was out of tears for now. Two of her so-called brothers had already received their judgments. Neither one of them had said anything about them. Professional-looking people had been going in and out of the room since they got there. Right now, Minoru was being judged by the green-haired woman from before. The two stepped into the waiting room together. She wasn't looking him in the eye. Minoru walked away without a word about his sentence. 

"Naru-san?" Naru looked up. "It's your turn, sweetheart." The woman was smiling kindly. Naru nodded and stood up. As they walked to the woman's office, she introduced herself and said she would be Naru's caseworker.The caseworker sat down behind her desk, and Naru sat in a chair in front of it. "Shall we begin?"

"Sure." The woman smiled again as she glanced down at papers spread across her desk.

"Alright, well, I've been reviewing your life deeds, and honestly, there's not much to report. You've done a lot of crying, you were a forced accomplice to Shinobu's crimes..." She shuffled the papers around. "And according to my files, you fell in love," she cleared her throat loudly, "with a yaminade named Itsuki. In your relatively short life, not much happened to you specifically." Naru bit her lip.

"Is that...bad?" The caseworker waved her hands.

"No, not at all! Makes my work easier." She chuckled a bit. "You're a rare gem, Naru. You didn't do anything wrong that's worth noting. The only crime you participated in was against your will, your record's the closest to spotless I've ever seen." She smiled widely at the stunned Naru. "Would you prefer heaven or reincarnation?" Naru's mouth fell open.

"Th-those are my choices?"

"Those are the two most favorable ones..." Naru was trembling.

"H-how should I choose?" The judge shrugged.

"Personally, I'd go with whatever would make me the most happy. Most people would go straight for heaven. But you, I don't know. I think you might like reincarnation better."

"Why is that, ma'am?" The woman waved her hand at Naru dismissively.

"No need for such formalities, use my name. Use _-chan _if you like. But anyhow, reincarnation might suit you better because you've never really had much of a life. You were born an adult, and you were kept in a body with six other people. If you're reincarnated, you can live as a normal human, with both good experiences and bad. So far, you've only had much of the latter. If you'd like a second chance at life, then I'd go for reincarnation. Heaven's basically hanging around. There's a lot of reflecting on good times, which aren't exactly abundant in your case." Naru nodded.

"Then I guess I want to be reincarnated." The woman shuffled her papers into a pile.

"That's great, do you have any questions?" Naru began to chew on the long strand of hair hanging in her face.

"Quite a few, actually"

"Well, fire away then."

"Will I remember my first life?" The caseworker shook her head.

"Technically, it'll be buried in your subconscious. You might get a deja vu sort of feeling about this life, but you won't likely exist in this original Naru form unless you're split again by the fruit of the past life. Then you'll be able to speak with your new self after the transformation ends."

"Like when I was with my bro-er, the others." The judge nodded.

Well, yes, but you won't be able to take over the body like you did then." Naru nodded somberly. "But that's only on the very, very slim chance that you come into contact with the juice of the zense no mi."

"Okay, um, will I still be a girl?"

"Most likely. Only a small percent of humans end up transgender. We try to avoid screw-ups as best we can. Of course, our mistakes tend to be pretty major. Such as Shinobu, Koenma-sama still blames himself for that." For a fleeting moment, the professional woman looked melancholy, even regretful. But that look quickly vanished. "Anything else, dear?"

"Uh, could I ask a favor?"

"You mean like a last request before you forget everything?" Naru nodded.

"I want to say goodbye to Itsuki," she said. The woman smiled sadly.

"I guess I can understand the desire to say goodbye to the man you loved." She seemed to be remembering something from long ago, something very sad. She shook her head and regained her composure. "I'll bring you to Baika, she can take you to Itsuki. I'm no longer authorized for visits to Ningenkai." She brushed some green strands of hair off her forehead. "I wouldn't mind seeing Itsuki. It's been quite a while, you know." Naru's eyes widened.

"You knew Itsuki-san personally?" The judge nodded.

"I was a ferrygirl back then. We weren't close or anything, but I knew him." With that said, she stood up and walked with Naru out the door. "Oh, one more thing. You're not to mention your sentence to your 'brothers.' It's policy around here." Naru nodded, and the two left to go to Baika.

"You want me to go _back_ there? I'll have to fill out more paperwork! He'll have another argument with me, I know he will!" Baika, apparently did not understand the desire to say goodbye quite as well as Naru's caseworker did. The older woman placed a hand on her frantic colleague's shoulder.

"Relax. I'll handle the paperwork, it was my idea. All you have to do is go into the Uraotoko and introduce Naru. It's unlikely he'll be pleasant at first, I know he doesn't exactly take kindly to ferrygirls. All you need to do is fulfill Naru-chan's last wish. She deserves it." Naru liked her caseworker; she was kind to her. She wondered if Minoru had been treated this well by her. Baika sighed in defeat.

"Fine. I'll take her." Naru smiled the widest she had ever smiled.

"Naru-chan," the caseworker said in mock-amazement, "You're smiling!" Naru realized it was true. She was smiling a real smile. Naru was actually happy.


End file.
